Another great way to find affordable local food is through foraging or gleaning. There’s plenty of “wild” food out there just ripe for the picking (Excuse the pun, I couldn’t resist.) If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, start by finding a good guide to wild edibles with clear pictures or illustrations, and really study what it is you’re looking for. I like The Field Guide to Wild Edibles: by Bradford Angier.

It’s probably best to start with something everyone can identify, like dandelion greens. They’re everywhere, and your neighbors may thank you for “picking” their lawn (just be sure they weren’t sprayed with any herbicides.) There’s a great recipe for a Bacon and Dandelion Green Salad in Simply in Season.

Also, be sure to look around for neglected or forgotten fruit trees, asparagus patches, vines, or berry bushes. Today for example, the girls and I stopped on the side of a back road near a friends’ family land and filled two gallon buckets with ripe, beautiful sour cherries. For FREE! I plan to make cobbler, can cherry pie filling, and make cherry jelly. We left any that weren’t ripe so either we or someone else can go back later for more, and we left the ones not easily in reach for the birds and animals. I also plan to mark the calendar for when they were ripe, so I’ll remember to go back again next year.

My only other recommendation is to ask permission first, if you can find who a property belongs to. This will save you from any awkward moments later, and you’ll feel more comfortable while you’re picking. Happy Hunting!

I wanted to share a great resource on the web: The Eat Well Guide. This is a great resource for anyone trying to eat more locally.  On their site you can search for local food by keyword, zip code, or city and state.  The advanced search allows you to be even more specific, searching by category, food, or even production method (Heirloom or Organic for instance.)

Another neat feature is their Eat Well Everywhere map.  It allows you to plan a trip to include local eats, no matter how far you roam, and then you can print it to take it with you when you’re finished.

There are some great brochures available to download on their site as well.  I personally recommend Cultivating the Web (just be sure you have plenty of toner if you plan on printing it, it’s a bit graphics intense!)  While you’re there, be sure to check out what others are doing on the Green Fork Blog.  There’s always something interesting to read there, and links to what’s making food headlines these days.

So there’s 100 more things to read over there, but don’t take MY word for it, go check it out for yourself!